[four hundred years, and the soothsayers said to him: "A boy will be born this year in Egypt, and your destruction will be at his hands." So he sent midwives among the people of Egypt, and if a woman gave birth to a boy, he was brought to Pharaoh and he would kill him.

"And spares the females."

Abu Muhammad said: He means the daughters.

506 - Abu Zur'ah narrated to us, 'Amr ibn Hammad ibn Talhah narrated to us, Asbat narrated to us, from al-Suddi, regarding His saying: "And when We saved you from the people of Pharaoh, who were afflicting you with the worst of the torment, slaughtering your sons and sparing your females. And in that was a great trial from your Lord." It was of the affair of Pharaoh that he saw a vision in his sleep: a fire approached from Jerusalem until it engulfed the houses of Egypt, burning the Copts and sparing the Children of Israel, and it burned the houses of Egypt. He summoned the sorcerers, the soothsayers, the qafah (those who interpret physical traits), and the hazah—and as for the qafah: they are the 'afah (those who interpret omens); and as for the hazah: they are those who interpret the flight of birds—and he asked them about his vision. They said to him: "A man will emerge from this land from which the Children of Israel came—meaning Jerusalem—at whose hands the destruction of Egypt will occur." So he ordered the Children of Israel that no boy should be born without them slaughtering him, and that no girl should be born to them without her being left alive. And he said to the Copts: "Look at your slaves who work outside, bring them in, and make the Children of Israel perform those dirty works." Thus, he assigned the Children of Israel to the work of their servants. It became such that no child was born to the Children of Israel but was slaughtered, so the small did not grow up. Allah cast death upon the elders of the Children of Israel, and it spread quickly among them. The chiefs of the Copts went to Pharaoh and spoke to him, saying: "These people are being struck by death, and soon the work will fall upon our servants due to the slaughtering of their sons, for the young will not reach adulthood and the old will perish. If only you would spare some of their offspring?" So he ordered that they be slaughtered one year and spared the next.

His saying: "And in that was a great trial from your Lord."

507 - My father narrated to us, Abu Salih, the scribe of al-Layth, narrated to us, Mu'awiyah ibn Salih narrated to me, from 'Ali ibn Abi Talhah, from Ibn 'Abbas, regarding His saying: "A great trial from your Lord," he says: A blessing. Similar to this has been narrated from Mujahid, Abu Malik, and al-Suddi.

His saying: "And when We parted for you the sea and saved you and drowned the people of Pharaoh."

508 - al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Rabi' narrated to us, 'Abd al-Razzaq informed us, Ma'mar informed us, from Abu Ishaq al-Hamdani, from 'Amr ibn Maymun al-Awdi, regarding His saying: "And when We parted for you the sea," to His saying...